Satanism

Satanism is a new religious movement which was formed in 1966 by Anton LaVey. The religion's earliest forms had existed since the Middle Ages, when the Catholic Church persecuted "heretics" for allegedly performing secret Satanic rituals. The modern Satanist faith is centered around LaVey's 1964 Satanic Bible, and Satanists worship Satan (also known as the "Life force"), believing in the ability to indulge oneself. Satanism had its largest support among Americans, but it started to reach Central and Eastern Europe during the 1990s, noticeably in Poland and Lithuania.